While pregnant, mummy blogger Meg Ireland did what many expecting women do – she posted ample snaps of her growing bump to social media. What happened next was truly shocking.
The now mum-of-two was appalled to find her pregnancy photo littered across an area of the Internet she’d never heard about: the disconcerting world of preggophilia porn.
For those who are unaware, preggophilia the fetishisation of women who are with child. According to preggophilia.com, the sites provide a forum for “admirers of pregnant women”. These range from “Pictures of pregnant teens” to “Pregnant celebrities” and “Belly expansion photos”.
For Meg, finding her photos on a porn website used without her knowledge or permission, was inexplicably sickening.
“I see so many people upload their bump pics and now I just gasp and hope to god they don’t get into the hands of someone they shouldn’t,” the writer warned her Instagram followers. “We shouldn’t have to worry about people stealing our photos, but unfortunately it happens ALL THE TIME! When I was scrolling through this god awful site trying to find where this thread was, I saw some pretty f**ked up sh*t.”
“People who were uploading pictures of their wife to other users, brother in laws uploading pictures of their sister in laws and women uploading pictures of their work colleagues,” the ShutUpMeg blogger continued. “I literally couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Who was I to blame for this?”
Bec Judd’s advice for going on a pre-baby holiday. (Post continues after audio.)
“People would say I should only blame myself for uploading “personal pictures” and that it was my own fault (even though my profile was then private). I see it differently. I didn’t care that someone had screen shot my photo to show someone, it’s was what they did with my photo that made me physically sick to my stomach.”
Meg’s final message to her friends and followers? “Please be cautious about who follows/adds you.” And if they look creepy? “Block them.”
Have you posted baby belly photos to social media? Why/Why not?
You can follow Meg’s blog here.
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Top Comments
Okay- for everyone who is commenting that it's NOT creepy to be attractive to a pregnant woman- you are wrong.
Any time someone is attracted to a 'type' they are objectifying those people, because they are removing their personhood from them.
It is not the same as my attraction for my husband- which is relational- it is to do with him as a person and myself as a person.
Fetishism is different from what we think of as 'attraction' that is relational, as in 'I was attracted to the person I talked to at the party so I asked for his/her number'. That pull to get to know another person that can have as much to do with their looks, as it does their sense of humour, or interests, or the way they think or communicate.
Fetishism removes personhood from the object of desire and reduces them to an object for arousal- for personal pleasure.
And it IS sick to reduce another person to an object for gratifying your desire- ESPECIALLY if that person is off limits- relationally, consensually, morally or culturally. A pregnant woman is gestating another man's child. Non-consensual 'upskirt' shots would be disfunctional to be attracted to. So would a child. So would other men's wives. etc etc.
That photo is truly scary looking. Proud or not you should know when to draw the line. That was not sexy at all.